Review Procedures

Manuscript Submissions and Editor Assignments

Authors must submit manuscripts to SIAM Journal on Financial Mathematics (SIFIN)
in electronic form. Hard-copy submissions will not be considered. Authors
can enter submissions directly into the Journal Submission & Tracking
System at http://sifin.siam.org.
Authors should submit both the manuscript and a cover letter in PDF format.
Figures, if any, must be embedded “inline” in the manuscript.

Following are specifics of how the journal’s peer review will operate.

After the submission has entered SIAM's tracking system, the corresponding
author receives an e-mail acknowledging receipt and providing the manuscript
number. Authors are asked to include the manuscript number in all correspondence
regarding the paper.

After checking the files the author submitted, the SIAM office contacts
the EICs to let them know that there is a new manuscript that needs
to be routed to a Review Editor. The EICs will make all final decisions.
Contact with the EICs and the SIAM office regarding the manuscript should
be done via e-mail. The EICs review each submission to determine whether
it is appropriate for the journal and, if so, which Associate Editor
(AE) can best handle the review. In making this decision, the EICs take
into account both the areas of expertise and the current workloads of the
editors. At the time the AE accepts the assignment, the paper is considered
in review (status R). Note that the EICs can reject papers that are clearly
inappropriate for SIFIN without assigning them to a Review Editor. The Review
Editor can recommend rejection to the EICs without referee reports if he
or she deems the paper inappropriate for the journal.

Direct Submissions: Members of the Editorial Board occasionally receive submissions directly from authors. In such cases the editor will ask the author to resubmit the paper to the SIAM office through the Journal Submission & Tracking System at http://sifin.siam.org. This procedure ensures that the SIAM office will have the opportunity to access the manuscript for proper processing and tracking throughout the review process. Editors should not review a new submission without the approval of the EICs, who assign the Review Editor for each paper.

Papers authored by Editorial Board members: Papers authored by Editorial Board members are subject to the same anonymous peer review process as other papers. Submissions to the journal authored by the Editor-in-Chiefs will be directed to the Vice President for Publications, who will oversee the review process.

Status Changes

Once the Review Editor has obtained referee reports and made a recommendation,
the reports go to the EICs for their decision. The author receives e-mail
informing him/her of the decision. The anonymous reports are generally
included.

The various status designations used by SIAM are discussed below. Note
the distinctions among the following statuses: rejected, in revision,
accepted pending minor revision.

Accepted (A). The EICs send an acceptance letter through
the web-based system. This goes to the corresponding author via e-mail.
In a follow-up step, SIAM staff contacts the author for TeX files
to launch the production process.

Minor Revision (PA). The code PA designates provisionally
accepted, but though the revisions asked of the author are minor
there is no guarantee the paper will be accepted for publication.
The author must revise the manuscript, and the editors will decide if another
round of review is necessary. A decision letter from the EICs asking
for a minor revision may state whether the EICs intend that the revised
paper will be sent back to the Review Editor and referees or not. Also, a due date of no longer than one month for the revision should be stated.

In Revision (V, V1, V2, etc.). When an author is asked to revise
a paper, there is no guarantee that the revised paper will be accepted
for publication. Usually, in fact, such revised papers are again
refereed. The author receives referee reports along with the e-mailed decision
letter requesting revisions. The e-mail contains a link that the author
may use to submit the revised version directly into SIAM's web-based system.
Also, a due date of no longer than three months for the revision should be stated.

Rejection (RJ). A paper that is of poor quality should
never be transferred to another SIAM journal. The decision letter
should leave no doubt as to the status of the paper. The author receives
a rejection letter and may also get reports.

In Review; re-routed from one editor to another (RR). This status
change can be effected by the EICs. It occurs in one of two situations:

An AE can’t handle a given paper due to heavy workload
or other considerations and requests that the paper be re-routed
to another editor. The EICs inform the SIAM office of the change
in editors, and the Publications Manager or Editorial Associate
can make the change in editors reflect in the web-based tracking
system.

An AE has not handled a paper in a timely or responsible fashion
and the EICs determine that the paper must be re-routed to another
editor.

Withdrawn (W). An author can withdraw a paper. The SIAM office
and the EICs must be notified. Also, the SIAM office must let the Review
Editor (and referees, if they are working on the paper) know. A paper is
also considered withdrawn when an author fails to revise a paper within
a reasonable length of time. SIAM asks authors to revise and resubmit papers
within six months. The decision to close a file out is made jointly by
the SIAM office and the Editors-in-Chief, often after consulting with the
Review Editor. Files are never closed without first giving the author ample
opportunity to submit a revision.

Transfer

Papers that are of high quality but are inappropriate for the journal
to which they have been submitted can be transferred to another SIAM
journal for consideration. The EICs of both journals and the author(s)
must approve the transfer. The EICs must agree before the author(s)
is consulted. If the author agrees to the transfer, the original paper is
marked rejected (RJ) and a new file is opened with a different manuscript
number. The submission then goes through the system to the EIC of
the second journal. However, SIAM staff should first include a "General
Note" on
the electronic file indicating its history as a transferred paper.

Reports

Various reports can be run by SIAM staff. Selected reports are run
and distributed to the journal EICs on a monthly and quarterly basis.
One report shows all papers in process, while others emphasize papers
that have remained in one status for an unusually long time.